


Little Things

by harrylee94



Category: Bendy and the Ink Machine
Genre: 2d Bendy AU, Character studies, Habits, PTSD, Toon Henry AU, after the studio, it could be after either of them, sort of, they are not alright
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-03
Updated: 2017-07-03
Packaged: 2018-11-23 01:21:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 851
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11392392
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/harrylee94/pseuds/harrylee94
Summary: It's the little things that make up a person, that reflect their idiosyncrasies, their personalities, their preferences... and their pasts.





	Little Things

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Miyuki_Namida49](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Miyuki_Namida49/gifts).
  * Inspired by [War Sketches](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11239680) by [harrylee94](https://archiveofourown.org/users/harrylee94/pseuds/harrylee94). 



> So a few weeks ago now I wrote [War Sketches](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11239680) and the response was... phenomenal, but I received an absolutely amazing review about it today, and I HAD to write more.  
> Inspired by the art and stories drawn and written by (or based around) the AUs or ideas created by [shinyzango](http://shinyzango.tumblr.com/), [squigglydigglydoo](https://squigglydigglydoo.tumblr.com/) and [the-vampire-inside-me](http://the-vampire-inside-me.tumblr.com/), along with that comment.  
> For Miyuki_Namida49, for your absolutely amazing comment.

It was the little things that set a person apart from the rest, or so Bendy had discovered. People watching had started to become a bit of a habit, and he found everything fascinating, from the way a person tied their shoes to how they went to church on a Sunday morning - though there was a family down the road who went to church on Saturday instead, and it wasn't church, but a synagogue. All these things were very strange to the toon, having spent his time stuck indoors for years on end, and while Henry found it amusing, Bendy took it all very seriously.

Mr Kendrick from next door would always sit on the chair on his porch at 8pm, every day, and smoke his pipe, but it always had to be the right tobacco, and it always had to be a match that lit it. "Those new 'lighters' just don't make the flame right."

Mrs Kendrick would always bring an umbrella with her when she went out, even if it was in the middle of summer and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. "You never know when you'll need it!"

Little Jackie Montford always made sure he ended up stepping off of stairs on his right foot, skipping or double stepping sometimes to make sure it was so. He didn't seem to have a reason for this, just that "it would be wrong if I didn't."

Even Maggie Brams, the teacher from across the road, had a very particular way about cleaning her house on the weekends, and order that had to be followed, or it would put her whole process off. "If I didn't do it that way then how would I know what I had or hadn't done? I could miss something!"

When Bendy had talked to Henry about these things, the man had chuckled and patted his head before saying "Everyone has them. Even you."

Bendy hadn't known what to think after that, but had started to look out for those quirks. At first he didn't see anything - he was just going about doing what anyone else would do - but then it had rained, and he took particular care dodging the puddles that had formed. It was after that that he started to notice things. He never threw away a doodle, or scribbled over it because it was wrong, his curtains were kept almost constantly open, much to Henry's annoyance, and he hated candles, of any sort. Sometimes he caught himself trying to talk to the cartoons on TV, but it didn't happen too often.

Of course, once he started to notice things about himself, he also noticed things about Henry too.

To start with he thought it was how everyone did things, having only had one other example, which _really_ didn't count, but as time moved on, and Bendy started to make some friends in the neighbourhood, he noticed that no, people didn't usually wake up at 5am and do a lap of the park down the road before getting ready for the day. People didn't care if there was a documentary or film about 'the war' on TV; they'd probably watch it or change channel, not turn the whole thing off and refuse to talk about it. People didn't take half an hour deciding what to wear in the morning, even though there were only about five options.

They didn't do 'checks' every time they left the house. They didn't subtly look for cover every time a plane flew overhead. They didn't close up every time a sudden loud noise happened.

There were other things too, like the way he would stack the cooking pots so as to conserve as much space as possible, even though there was plenty of room in the cupboard, and the way he hated his hands being stained by ink or mud - though Bendy wasn't sure if that was new or not - but that wasn't important.

What was important was that despite all of these things, or perhaps because of them, the two of them were beginning to understand one another, beginning to see what the other needed. Henry bought Bendy some wellington boots to help with the puddles, and had started a scrap book for all of the sketches the toon drew. Candles were, unfortunately, a necessity at times, but there was always a flashlight nearby, and an arm about Bendy's shoulders.

Meanwhile, Bendy had started to throw clothes at Henry in the mornings by way of choosing them, would change channel before the documentaries or films started, or otherwise talk to Henry about his latest embarrassing one sided conversation with Scooby Doo, and had started to hold Henry's hand while they were out and about, keeping him in the moment with a squeeze of his fingers.

It wasn't perfect, far from it in fact - the checks still happened, the curtains stayed open, and there were some nights where neither of them could sleep because unwanted memories wouldn't leave them alone when they slept - but it was something. It was a little thing, and it was theirs.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you all so much for reading!


End file.
